Yes, you read that correctly: Chocolate blended with Scotch Whiskey. I don't talk about alcohol much on this blog because, well, I've never found a veggie burger with bourbon in it (but if that exists, please invite me to eat it!) But I love whiskey.

And I love chocolate. So chocolate + whiskey together in vegan ice cream? That's kind of my idea of heaven.

Steve's Ice Cream is made in Brooklyn, but their website says it's available at natural food stores across the U.S. - I even looked up my hometown in Virginia, and it says Steve's Ice Cream is available there too! Not all of their flavors are vegan, and the packaging does not make it obvious which ones are at first (look for the small print that says "non-dairy" at the bottom of the label), but they have a few other vegan flavors in addition to the Chocolate Scotch... although I have to confess, I have not tried them yet because I just can't help myself from always buying the flavor I am obsessed with.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Although I have seen the film Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, I have never actually set foot inside a White Castle. But maybe I will have to change that soon, to try out these new sliders - which are made with Dr. Praegers veggie patties (no word on whether they are vegan or not, some of Dr. Praegers products are vegan while others are not). Supposedly they are only available for a limited time, as the fast food chain is just testing them out as a menu item - but hopefully they will realize the importance/benefit of offering vegetarian options, and make it a permanent menu item!

The instructions said simply to “shape into 4 patties” – I was only cooking for myself, so I just made one (planning to eat the others in the next couple days, or shape them and freeze them if I need to keep them for longer). Wary of how the fresh beets might stain my hands, I wore latex gloves for this part.

If you didn’t know that was a vegan mixture of beets, cabbage, quinoa, and sunflower seeds, wouldn’t you think it kind of looks like raw meat?

The mix is very soft, but once it fried for a few minutes on one side it was not difficult to keep it in one piece when I flipped it over with a spatula. I let it cook the full 4-6 minutes per side that the instructions recommended, but even fully cooked it was still quite soft.

Beets are one of what I consider the secret ingredients for a great veggie burger – they add color that fools even meat-eaters, and they have a great hearty flavor.

That said, I also enjoy beets on their own and in various other recipes. But unlike other veggie burgers I’ve had in the past which contain this great ingredient in smaller amounts, the beet flavor is VERY prominent and unavoidable in these burgers. So while I’ve urged beet-haters to try other veggie burgers despite their misgivings about the bright red-pink ingredient, I would caution only beet-lovers to sample these ones! Beets are not the only ingredient, but they are the most prominent flavor.

For beet-lovers, though, the taste of these patties is quite delicious! The only topping I put on my burger was a tiny bit of mayo, but I probably could have even done without that because the patty was so moist and flavorful on its own - and quite hearty and filling.

But eating it felt more like eating a vegan Sloppy-Joe than a burger. The patty was so soft, even after being fried on both sides, that it just mushed in my mouth like a shredded beet salad on a bun. The bun held it all inside okay, but the patty would not have kept its shape at all on its own. It was tasty, without a doubt, but quite a different experience from eating a “normal” veggie burger.

The Whole Foods location where I found this mix also had a carrot-parsnip flavor, which I was tempted by (because I love parsnips and think they are a very underrated vegetable!) – and the Made By Lukas website shows that they also offer a kale flavor, which is probably equally delicious. And they’re all completely vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and soy-free! This is probably the closest you can get to home-made without taking the time to measure and mix all those ingredients together on your own - so it's a great quick and easy option for a meal.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Last weekend we took the Long Island Railroad out to Long Beach for a day of relaxation on the beach. The water was freezing cold, so I didn’t swim for more than a few minutes, but just lying on the sand by the ocean was lovely.

It had been a couple years since I was last at Long Beach; I don’t go there as often as I go to Rockaway Beach, so I had no idea what food options would await us. Luckily, we found Shoregasboard - a parking lot of food trucks right off of the boardwalk. And luckily, I found a veggie burger:

At first I was disappointed to see that Sugo’s Beach Buns & Bites did not have a vegetarian taco option (what the heck?), but I was mollified to see a veggie burger listed on the menu along with all their meat-burgers and hotdogs. The friendly food truck’s staff informed me that the patty was vegan, but the bun was not (and the burger comes with cheese by default, so ask for it without if you don’t eat dairy!).

After several hours out in the hot sun, I was starving, so I dug right into this burger – even though it had slices of Portobello mushrooms on top, and I’m normally not a mushroom fan (Portobello can occasionally be the exception to this rule for me, though). The patty was decent, it was obviously some brand of frozen burger patty, with large chunks of vegetables (including a lot of carrots, most notably). The flavor was pretty mild, nothing spectacular.

The arugula and Portobello slices gave the burger a little bit more substance and flavor, but it still felt small and flat, and for $8 I would have liked a bit more in the way of toppings! There was some kind of slightly spicy sauce as well – although there wasn’t enough of it to keep the whole burger from tasting a bit dry (I suppose normally the cheese helps with that, if you order it with the cheese). The bun was just average.

It wasn’t the most amazing burger (or the most filling – I was still hungry after!) I’ve ever eaten, but I was grateful that there was a vegetarian option available. I do seem to find veggie burgers wherever I go… I wasn’t even planning on reviewing one this day, but as soon as I saw it on the menu, I knew what my next blog post would be!